#Everything is up to circumstance

[ant1quarian]

Hello

I have come from the darkness to ask you for your thoughts;

Errorink (Error x Ink)

Swapmare (Nightmare x Swap/Blue/Blueberry)

cream (Cross x Dream)

bloodycrops (Horror x Farm)

and

MurderSwap (Murder/Dust x Swap/Blue/Blueberry)

Thank you for your time!

OOOO!!

Errorink is a ship I could see working in some situations; providing they didn't have a deep close connection and it was more of a situationship. Most because Ink is incapable of feeling without his vials and I feel like it would really hurt Error to find out that Ink doesn't actually care about him- because he can't.

I feel like a lot of relationships with Ink are rather toxic- not because i don't like the silly guy (I genuinely do, he's such an interesting character)- but rather because Ink is simply just. . . incapable of feeling.

I can definitely see them having a rival-like friendship though.

Platonic Vibe

Swapmare is definitely an interesting concept! Depending on the situation, it's either fluff with a tad bit of toxicity, or full-blown toxic. Depends whether we're doing "Dadmare" or his canon self.

Assuming it's the Nightmare that actually cares, I feel like it'd be a relatively alright relationship. Definitely a lot of bumps in the road, though I like to think of Blue having a very strong belief but being generally morally ambiguous. There's definitely a big power difference at play, but I feel like Blue would have a reasonably good affect on Nightmare.

. . . Stretch would be absolutely pissed and so concerned though, so there's definitely that. I'm not about to say that Blue wouldn't leave Stretch behind (wouldn't fully, at least), but I do have a co-AU of Blue where he dusted everyone. So, uh, I can imagine Blue being fiercely protective of Nightmare, and if lines are crossed- dust is shed.

A Vibe, in the right circumstances.

Cream is... one I had to think for a while on. On one hand: Cute! Interesting! I can see it working! But on the other hand: No.

Again, everything is purely up to circumstance, but I do headcanon Dream to struggle with controlling his constantly positive aura. Dream might take up Cross as a "i can fix him" project, but Cross doesn't want to be fixed. He just wants freedom. Cross is very duty-bound, and Dream is often portrayed to be so optimistic it hurts sometimes- 'cause y'know, he has to be.

I feel like Dream's ceaseless positivity and general optimism would tire Cross out to the point where they just. . . stopped working as well anymore.

It would start out well I think, but I like to headcanon that Dream can't really look past the sin; similarly to how Classic can't look past the LV and EXP in most cases. Dream may be a positive influence and try to help everyone, but at the end of the day, I don't feel like he's that empathetic, and clearly needs to work through a lot of things before he can be healthy enough in a relationship for Cross and Dream to work together properly.

Less of a Vibe.

Bloodycrops is a ship I like. One that's actually quite healthy, though I can imagine a bit of struggle for Saejun to fully accept the things Horror has done (having not really gone through anything bad enough to understand why Horror did what he did). I feel like gradually they'd grow together, over a long period of time, and it'd be quite sweet.

Though, dealing with Horror's base instincts popping up and those he'd learned is going to be difficult. So is how long it's going to take for Saejun to fully realise just how many trauma triggers and trauma responses Horror has from what he's been through (Recovery is a very windy road with a lot of roundabouts).

As someone who plays as Horror in an SMP, I feel like whenever he feels as if he's getting dangerous or angry, he needs to leave that situation and be out in the wild for a while. This leads to Horror being gone for days- or weeks- at a time, out in the forest, away from everything as he gets a grip on himself again. But every time he comes home, it's always to a familiar grin and a cup of hot cocoa.

A Vibe

Murderswap is pretty interesting! If we're going off of my Headcanons for Blue, I think there would definitely be some struggles here and there. As sweet and awesome as Blue is, he's never gone through enough struggle to get why the others around him did what they did.

They'd have to learn to grow with each other over a long period of time, and Blue would have to get a lot less scolding and grumpy whenever Dust's areas are messy. Dust doesn't like being ordered to do things, which is why his Nightmare usually asks him to do things- or gives him an incentive to get it done. And he doesn't like being lectured, either, as it reminds him too much of his Papyrus and that can and will make his LV jump if Blue's not careful. Playful arguments and goofy grumbling is probably alright, though.

Stretch is definitely a roadblock. Not only would he absolutely detest Dust for having done what he's done, but he'd probably find some sort of way to attempt to get Blue to stop visiting Dust.

( Everything is down to circumstance, though. )

Pretty Much A Vibe!

You're welcome for my time lmao- and thank you for yours!

Wonderful ask. Much appreciated

[bunnieswithknives]

I like think David and Rowan met briefly as kids. Just the once on some kind of bring your kid to work day. They only made eye contact. Brief enough they don't remember it when they meet again later but... Idk I just think its a nice thought.

[worstloki]

Mu Qing ascending is objectively so funny considering Feng Xin and Xie Lian also do. Out of the people in your kingdom who accomplished immortality there’s this guy who used to be your servant but is now on equal rank to you and he‘s super rude now and also thinks you hate him because he remembers when you were 18 and lacked socioeconomic-interpersonal awareness

[starryjkoo]

It’s really funny when people are like - but JK hung out with x person 10 times this year! - and it’s like, okay, and then he chose to spend the next 18 months, 547~ days with Jimin? 😭 You might really want to rethink that argument friend. JK had other options, other people he could have gone with, other programs he could have tried for, a later date he could have enlisted on, and yet he chose JM, and vice versa. They didn’t even have to enlist with anyone, they could have gone individually like everyone else in the group. No one was expecting them to enlist together. And this is also probably the furthest thing there is from company content or fanservice considering we’re not even going to be seeing them for the next 18 months and I doubt they’ll even talk about their time in the military. It’s just so silly. “JK and JM were never together this year!” buddy, they’re literally together RIGHT NOW 😭

[seven-stars-in-his-palm]

the thing i love about bill cipher is that even after i've learned all of this stuff about him, seen him at the most vulnerable he'll ever get, seen him at his most innocent, i still can't give a flying fuck about trying to justify his actions. yes he's traumatized, yes he was twisted into what we know today, and while it gives a semblance of context to why he did what he did, it doesn't matter. he still ruined ford's life. he still drove and baited multiple humans to suicide. he still tormented every human he saw as his ticket out of the consequences of his own actions. he still took delight in his actions. he was willing to commit genocide for fuck's sake!!! (freezing all of the humans into statues). trying to explain away what he did does not get rid of what he did, but it certainly puts it in perspective. you won't be catching me being a bill apologist any time soon <3

[feroluce]

Belobog was my fave main quest but a lot of it is so. Contradictory. It's like they had multiple groups doing different shit and none of them checked in with each other for consistency. And you see this so much in Gepard's profile.

So in the main quest, they made him unfailingly, unquestionably loyal to Cocolia. Gepard's character arc is him learning to question authority etc etc. And this isn't even a bad thing; that's a story worth telling! It makes good conflict between him and Serval! And I love that we got Gepard as a boss battle and I get to see him all the time in SU!

But then you look at his character stories and it's like. The complete opposite.

According to his profile, Gepard has already HAD this awakening, long before the Astral Express, and he'd already decided Cocolia sucks. Even outside of his stories, there's a pretty damning readable between him and Pela.

He even disobeyed direct orders right in front of her- he has been disobeying orders for a while now!

So I've decided I'm marrying the two different sides of this into a 1.5k fic-ish thingy, because I think there's some fun potential there with Gepard not trusting Cocolia, but still having to pretend to be a good obedient little soldier.

Anyway. I love to think of it as like. Gepard knows Cocolia has sunk into her apathy. He can see it in her eyes every time he looks at her. She doesn't care. Not about him, not about Pela, not about all his soldiers on the frontlines giving their lives to protect the citizens. And that's... It makes him bristle a bit, but ok. Gepard can deal with this. Even if Cocolia no longer cares, as long as she does her job then it's fine. Having compassion behind an action doesn't matter as much as the action itself. If Cocolia's heart is no longer swayed, then he'll just have to care twice as hard to pick up the slack. He considers it part of his duty as a captain of the guard anyway. It's fine. Gepard can deal with it.

And then, Cocolia starts coming down to the restricted zone. Issuing direct orders.

And Gepard realizes he is in way over his head.

Because Cocolia orders him to stay back and issue commands from the ramparts, away from all his comrades, away from where he can protect them.

Gepard had thought nothing could be as bad as watching a fellow guard die right next to him. But the first time he watches someone struck by a killing blow, so far away, it hurts. Every defensive scar across his arms itches, his fingers curl in want of a weapon, the cold cannot numb his hands enough as they desperately ache for his shield. It hurts.

Gepard tries to find any reason to stay. Because surely... He knows Cocolia has lost her love for her people, but surely... She wouldn't...

One day, Cocolia orders for their gunners to advance 20 yards. There are no survivors. She almost looks like she smiles.

Gepard doesn't sleep that night.

Pela brings him the report at the end of the first month; and then the month after that, and the month after that. A significant uptick in losses, and all of it started on that first day Cocolia started overriding his authority and issuing her own orders. The ends of Gepard's pens have all been nearly chewed off. Pela outright calls Cocolia an idiot, and Gepard corrects her. Cocolia isn't an idiot. Gepard had known her through Serval, knew her through all her college years and then some, and he knows how intelligent she is. It's not that she's stupid, and it's not that she's inexperienced, it's nothing of the sort.

Cocolia knows exactly what she's doing.

She must, there's no way she could make such a horrible mess of things so badly by accident. And Pela, quick as a whip, sharp as a tack, always too smart for her own good, catches onto the meaning behind Gepard's correction without any further prompting. The tent goes deathly quiet, nothing but the wind howling outside.

"...She's trying to kill us," Pela whispers, her voice swiftly suffocated by the silence.

Gepard swallows. He can't bring himself to correct her this time. There is nothing he could say that he would actually mean.

His gaze drops, back down to his desk and the reports on it. The names aren't listed, just the numbers, but Gepard knows them, knew them, and there must be something wrong, something he's missing, because why, why would she-? What could this possibly accomplish-?

“Gepard! Focus!” Something snaps right under his nose, and Gepard startles, eyes instantly honing in on Pela's irritated face as she leans over his desk. She holds his gaze for a moment before she huffs and begins to pace, wedges a knuckle between her teeth and bites like Gepard hasn't seen her do since cadet school.

Pela angrily strides from one end of his tent to the other, words hissed between her grit teeth. “What are we going to do?” In the dim lighting, Gepard can just barely see the damp spot of blood weeping under her gloves. “We need a plan.”

“A plan?”

“Wh- Yes, a plan! Unless you want more people to die!” Pela rounds on him then, all the wrath of a blizzard, winds roaring and snow sharp enough to cut.

“We don't even know-”

“What does it matter?! She killed-!!” Pela cuts off with a garbled noise when Gepard leaps up from his desk, hastily shoves his hand over her mouth. The prosthetic, not the flesh one, because he knows better than to assume Pela won't seize the opportunity to leave teeth marks in his skin.

“You're right. I'm sorry, I'm sorry; you're right. But you need to keep quiet.” Pela quirks an eyebrow at him and Gepard can read the question in her face. “Because we both saw what she did to Serval,” he hisses.

It's amazing the snow plains haven't thawed out yet, the amount of heat Pela can put behind a glare. The mere mention of Serval, and the smoking ruins Cocolia had made of her life and career, have her bristling up like a riled cat. The sudden hot breath she takes fans fog across his metal skin, and Gepard wisely keeps it in place until Pela finally sighs and reaches up, taps her fingertips against the back of his hand.

The second she's free, Pela bats him away and then her knuckle is right back between her teeth again, Gepard leaning back against his desk with his arms crossed to watch her resume her pacing. “If we spread the word, she'll have us discharged and make sure we can't even touch the frontlines,” Pela's voice seethes like an open sore. Gepard nods but keeps his silence. He knows better than to get in her way.

“And if you and I are both out of the picture, Belobog is fucked.” A little harsher than how he would have put it, but there's no denying that they're both important to the city's survival. Pela has the restricted zone running as efficiently as ever, and Gepard had become the youngest captain on record for a reason. “We need to keep this tight under wraps, at least for now… It can't leak to anyone higher up the chain.” Another nod. “Serval might know other discontents…” Another n-

Gepard's head snaps up. “No.”

“No what?”

“No. We're not involving Serval in this.”

Somehow, even the same tone that leaves entire squadrons shaking in their boots has never worked on her. “You're not deciding that for her, Gepard.”

Pela hadn't seen the worst of it, though, back when his sister had just been banned from the Architects. Serval's pride hadn't allowed it. Pela wasn't the one to find her passed out bottle still in hand, hadn't been the one to wash the sick out of her hair or carry her to bed. 

Serval still has trouble thinking clearly when it comes to Cocolia, still can't quite bring herself to be objective. And Gepard maybe doesn't want her to be purely objective- but he would worry a lot less if she thought twice before she acted more often.

“At least let me be the one to bring it up to her.”

“Whatever, fine,” Pela gestures affirmatively at him as she paces past, and Gepard sighs. Good, at least that's one thing he can help.

From there, it's a lot of hemming and hawing and frustration. Cocolia has them under her boot, and Gepard and Pela both know it. Even with the way she's been cracking down on freedoms lately, Cocolia is still, overall, liked by the people. It's unlikely anyone would believe them. They don't even have solid proof, because most people don't know Cocolia as well as they do and won't see the clues in the same light. 

The Fragmentum has been ramping up in recent years, too. Everyone is struggling just to survive as is, they can't afford a fight on two fronts. Gepard is a damn good captain, one of the best for that matter. But they're at a massive disadvantage, his experience is narrowed to fighting a defensive battle against monsters, that's all he's ever done. That's all anyone there has ever done. He has no way of finding first-hand knowledge for taking the offensive against a human opponent, and if he goes at this blind, there's no way he'll get everyone out unscathed. He's going to lose people. He's going to lose a lot of people.

He'd never thought before that Cocolia would have it in her to have someone killed. And with this new knowledge, he has no guarantee she won't go after Serval or Lynx if she decides to retaliate.

Gepard has to remind himself to breathe when he realizes this.

Pela writes down every name the two of them can come up with. Lists and lists of names and groups and anyone they can think of who might be an ally in all of this. They memorize every bit of it, make their plans of who to talk to and when. Gepard watches the sparks reflect off Pela's glasses as they burn the evidence together.

Pela finally leaves, far too late to make it home, but says she wants to stay in the restricted zone anyway to investigate. Gepard watches her make her way in the direction of Dunn's tent, watches her back until she's out of his sight and squashes down the urge to follow and keep an eye on her. His tent feels empty.

In the morning, Gepard is up before the wake up bells. He drags himself out of bed, leads his soldiers through their morning training. The same people gravitate to each other everyday. Friend groups and training partners. There's an ongoing rivalry between a few squadrons that everyone bets on. Some of them have lockets around their necks, keepsakes, mementos. Some of them wear wedding rings.

Gepard is suddenly, painfully aware of something acidic clawing at the inside of his throat, of a heavy weight low in his chest that blooms, takes up room until it threatens to spread his ribs. His mouth tastes of bile and blood.

He rearranges the schedules. Puts himself down for every open patrol into the Fragmentum, makes sure he'll be on the frontlines every single time Cocolia visits.

He only hopes that it's enough.

[tswwwit]

i have a counter argument to the 'only one person can boop bill' thing, mabel. she's the type of person to slap stickers on people, she would definitely be the type to also boop others occasionally and bill would be no exception. she probably doesn't do it to annoy bill like dipper would, but maybe as a form of a friendly gesture, kind of like those people who will lightly punch friends in the arm when they hang out.

You know what? Good point. Mabel would get away with more than most, as a fun-loving lady! Bill understands those impulses, and being a touchy person! He indulges in similar ones himself.

Though when Bill's not in the mood to be playful and gets booped anyway? The 'sister-in-law' status grants her considerable grace.

[haunted-xander]

You ever think about how Ryne probably got a more honest yet closed-off Thancred while Minfilia got a more disingenuine yet open Thancred?

Like, the Thancred Minfilia knew and grew up with was the one we saw in arr, the flirty, teasing and sassy but friendly man who was clearly not very honest seeing as no one- not even Minfilia- noticed how worn out he was from his constant work. Even just by hw he's noticably more prickly and. not quite rude but. more outwardly cynical? He's always been kinda cynical, but in arr his teasing and banter hides it well, which never disappears but is more. natural? genuine? now. Krile directly points out that he's much more brusque than she expected of him based on how Minfilia described him.

And sure, you could attribute that behaviour to his grief and stress (which is certainly a part of it) but considering he acts much the same in ew, when he's finally moved on and come to terms with everything (and is also post-shb character development), I think it's safe to say that this is the most honest we've seen Thancred be.

But this is all Ryne has known him to be. She's never seen Thancred be flirtatious or as social and friendly as he is in arr, she's only seen him be brusque and cynical but still teasing and kind. But he's also far more closed off from her (and others) bc of That Whole Deal going on. Urianger has told her more about Thancred's true feelings than Thancred himself has. and even that's not a lot, for Urianger is not only not a mind reader and doesn't know everything that goes on on Thancred's head, but also is reluctant to share more than is necessary since it's not his place to divulge these things (and also he himself is not free from the folly of emotional self-isolation).

With Minfilia though, he's open enough that she's never doubted that he cared for and loved her even when he couldn't spend much time with her, and she felt comfortable enough to admonish him when he did his usual self-destructive behaviour (you know, becoming an alchoholic at 17 and All That Entails)

Just. food for thought

[aria-greenhoodie]

HEY DO YOU GUYS EVER THINK ABOUT HOW ABIGALE BLACKWING, A VERY INDEPENDENT INVENTRESS, SUDDENLY WENT AND MARRIED A RICH MAN (implied to be a Northwest) AFTER THE COLLAPSE OF THE ANTI-CIPHER SOCIETY? DO YOU EVER THINK MAYBE THAT MARRIAGE WAS OUT OF A DESPERATE NEED FOR SAFTEY FROM BEING INSTITUTIONALIZED? DO YOU EVER THINK MAYBE ABIGALE FEELS SHE TRADED AN ASYLUM FOR FREEDOM OVER HER LIFE? HOW SHE’S STILL TRAPPED IN A CAGE BUT IN A DIFFERENT WAY? DO YOU EVER THINK ABOUT THAT!? BECAUSE I DO!

Anyway uhhhh Click for Quality.

[sukibenders]

I like what HOTD is doing with Jace'a character, especially the complexities of his identity and such, because there were seedlings of it in season one and I'm happy that they didn't just drop it. He knows in some way that he's a bastard, especially when paired beside his younger siblings, the differences stick out clear as day. And even if he had his parents' love, how he speaks his house's tongue, how he's a dragonrider, how he's his mother's heir there's always going to be that need to compensate because of his parents' choices. And I'm happy that they showed that scene between him and Rhaenyra as well because, even since season one, a conversation like that was bound to happen again. Okay HOTD showrunners....you chewed with this one, I'll give you that.

[caspersscareschool]

he literally sews his kids stupid little outfits from scratch does anyone even fucking care

[secretarysong]

so much Mayday stuff (& a smidgeon of Vinyl City worldbuilding) in my head. ooouugghh. wrote this at 12am last night and i'm not the best at articulating my thoughts so forgive me as this wooonnt be the most polished. this is likee a mini conglomeration of personal headcanons and a bit of analysis (reading too far into things) ... i just wanna talk about her REEEAALLL BAAADDDD

i've always thought of Mayday as someone so deeply intertwined with Vinyl City (specifically the working-class & lower-class areas; the 'little guys') that her dream of becoming a big famous rockstar also stems from a desire for agency/power. power to be able to do SOMETHING in the name of her communities after personally living through, like, 2 decades of neglect—condemned by NSR to live in the shadow of the more tourist-oriented/commercial/profitable parts of the city—even if it means rising to charterhood under the same stupid record label that's the source of all her problems in the first place ...

i also like to believe this, in tandem with her rumbustious nature, is why Mayday IMMEDIATELY switches to aggression (dare i call it a TV meltdown...?) following her & Zuke's flames being so harshly snuffed out during the Lights Up Audition.

Mayday was probably warned beforehand by the adults around her about the EDM bias. i think she ignored/dismissed every warning/dissuasion because she believed in herself and her ability and her principles too unshakably for her own good. and then for the judges (particularly Tatiana) to unanimously strike her dream down like that, thus proving their warnings right & her hard work (and ignorance) in vain... FURY!!!! (Mayday is NOT the best at taking losses with grace)

and then the banning of Rock from the Lights Up Audition happens. and then the subsequent blackout and diversion of energy happens. and seeing the extent of what happens across the city with her own eyes from atop the ledge (after being limited to her own ground-level experiences on the outside, looking inward) is what finally tips her over the edge and into the vat of a full-blown revolution.

semi-related, but i also view Mayday's hatred towards EDM as. like. a general prejudice. it goes a bit deeper than just Not liking the sound/style; she associates it with NSR, and therefore links it with everything wrong with Vinyl City. rock music, a dying art in the era being upheld by her tightly-knit community, untouched by NSR, to her is authenticity.

she also loathes the "Order leads to progress in Vinyl City." slogan because, to her, order means complacency... and complacency has done shit all for anyone she knows. ("If chaos is what is needed to get things done around here, so be it!")

i know i'm kind of bouncing back to the second paragraph but. like. there's just something so dear to me about the idea of a Mayday whose a roving city girl from off the streets... armed with her guitar, her passion, and her support system, doing everything she can to prevent rock—her home—from becoming irrelevant. always chasing a fantasy about being something bigger than herself. even if the odds are stacked against her. even if Mayday's own impetuosity is a double-edged sword that impedes her just as much as it enables her.

to me she's. like. a melting pot of ambition and stubbornness and righteousness and naievite. Mayday girl i love you SOOOOOO SOOOOOOOOO MUCH ideally i would put this all into a legitimate form of writing like a backstory fic or something but gah i don't even know where to START

[bigskydreaming]

The thing that kills me about the Star Wars prequel trilogy and why I will die on my hill that my problem is not that Star Wars is a tragedy, its that its a badly written tragedy, is that Anakin Skywalker was at his closest to being a good Jedi when he was ten years old.

[thatsparrow]

giving psych another go after having watched the first season and a bit a couple years ago before stopping because I hadn't really been feeling it

only like six or seven eps in this time, and I am enjoying it, and I would like to stick with it this time, but god, now I do remember why I gave up on it in the first place. for all the show has going for it (which is a lot!) so much of the tone (and shawn is usually the biggest offender) falls back on those really insufferable attitudes from the mid ’00s of like. hit on every woman you see, getting laid is always the biggest priority. kneejerk disdain for anything nerdy or "uncool." I'm a guy and that means I care about porn and sports and that's it

[htsparrowheart]

"Mia kind of sucked actually" yeah geez she only grew up in a resentful death cult, got parentified at age 12, fled the only home she's ever known to avoid being pitted against that same sibling she had to raise, graduated law school alone, overcame trauma and depression to start a successful law firm alone in her mid-20's, and spent whatever free time she had researching emotionally painful cold cases and planning to take down a corrupt CEO. even if therapists existed in the trilogy (real therapy, not Athena's bs), when would Mia have had the time? she covered an incredible amount of ground just breaking free of Kurain and adapting to the world outside the village - again, without anyone she could entirely trust to catch her if she fell. but still, she changed and grew as a person in just the 3-year span we knew her. she got much better at managing her anxious and aggressive tendencies. she was more openly supportive toward Phoenix than any adult was to her. and she was literally TRYING to open up more to Phoenix and Maya on the night she died, by introducing those two halves of her life to each other despite the risks! if Mia Fey "sucked", then how high a standard should women be held to, hmm?

[oozeandgoo-art]

inspired by this post